Said Mahmut Çinar

A remotely accessible solar tracker system design

In this paper, a new solar tracking system designed and constructed at Afyon Kocatepe University to maximize the efficiencies of different photovoltaic (PV) panels is proposed. The system is composed of two main parts: first is the mechanical part, whereas the second is the control part. The mechanical part of the system has the ability to move both in vertical and in horizontal axes. Servo engines are selected and used at this part. On the other hand, control part is designed as to be achieved via remote access. The control strategy of the system should easily be altered when desired. This enabled us to test different control algorithms. Moreover, different PV panels produced by different technologies are tested on the system. Electricity generation outputs of PV panels obtained from the tracking system are compared with outputs of fixed ones. Finally comparison results of different control strategies are presented and discussed.

Energy Efficiency in Natural Stone Cutting Process

The aim of this experimental study was to reduce electric energy consumption in marble cutting operation. We designed a prototype circular saw block cutting machine for marble cutting experiments. Fully computer-controlled this experimental set-up has a LabView based data acquisition and control system. In this study, manual and automatic cutting experiments were performed for three natural rocks (Cankiri beige and Afyon white marble and Denizli travertine). In experiments, travel speed is kept fixed in manual mode as usual in industry. Travel speed is controlled in automatic mode during the cutting process. Travel speed is controlled depending on specific energy. It is observed that, if automatic cutting is performed, electric energy saving can be provided in all of three rocks. Though energy saving is provided in all of three rocks, the best energy saving is provided in Cankiri beige marble.

Improvement of Energy Efficiency Using a Multi-Input Fuzzy Logic Controller in a Stone Cutting Machine

Block cutter machines (BCMs) are commonly used in the manufacturing of natural stones. Although the energy consumption of the BCM is affected by the rotation speed of the blade, depth of cut, and traverse speed, these parameters are generally fixed. Unfortunately, stones are not homogeneous materials, and this has a negative impact on the energy consumption of the BCM because of the fixed parameters. The main goal of our study was the development of a multi input single output (MISO) fuzzy logic controller (FLC) design to improve the energy efficiency of the BCM. In this study, two MISO FLCs (two- and three-input) were designed to adjust the traverse speed and these controllers were applied in the laboratory-scale model of the BCM. The designed FLCs are tested with cutting experiments on three different stones. The experiments showed that, with the continuous adjustment of the traverse speed during the cutting process, the FLCs increase energy efficiency. The three-input FLC provided more energy saving than with the two-input FLC. Also, multiple regression analysis was performed in order to determine the combined effects of the most dominant rock properties on specific energy for three different control methods.

An Experimental Setup Design to Evaluate Power Generation Performances of TECs under Different Temperatures

Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC) is a semiconductor based device that has ability to separate cold and hot temperatures once the rated voltage is applied. In this study, TECs are used as Thermoelectric Generator (TEG). For this aim an experimental setup is built. By the help of this experimental setup electricity generation performances of the TEC is tested under various temperature conditions. The setup includes two water tanks, loads, TEC modules, computer interface and a data acquisition system. Temperature difference required for electrical generation of the TEC module is provided by filling the tanks with water at different temperatures. A data acquisition system is designed for this specific setup. First the setup with data acquisition system is introduced then experimental results are presented and discussed. Keywords:Electrical energy generation, Thermoelectric Cooler, LabVIEW